On March 18, 1984, two masked armed men entered the home of Katsuhisa Ezaki, president of Ezaki Glico, one of Japan's largest candy companies are in Nishinomiya, Japan. They tied up his elderly mother in the adjacent building, entered his home at gunpoint, tied up his wife and children, and dragged him naked from his bathroom. They demanded 1 billion yen and 100 pounds of gold. Three days later, Ezaki escaped. The kidnappers then launched a sustained campaign of terror against Japan's entire food industry. They called themselves The Monster with 21 Faces. Over 17 months, they sent more than 50 taunting letters to the police and the press. They planted cyanide-laced candy on supermarket shelves across Japan — labeling the packages themselves with warning stickers reading "Danger: Contains Toxins." They were caught on the security camera. The footage showed a man in a baseball cap calmly placing poisoned candy on store shelves. The police released a composite sketch. Nobody came forward. At the height of the investigation, one fifth of Japan's entire national police force — 44,000 officers — were mobilized. They visited 3.2 million homes and offices in the Osaka area. The investigation investigated 125,000 people. The Monster was never identified. The police superintendent leading the manhunt — under unbearable public and institutional pressure — killed himself by setting himself on fire in August 1985. Five days later, The Monster sent its final letter mocking him. The main suspect — never named publicly — died in March 2022 without being charged. The statute of limitations expired in 2000. Even if The Monster removed their mask today — in Japan, they could not be charged with a single crime.